


There is no such thing as Monogamy on Themyscira

by Pinkshiori



Category: DC Cinematic Universe, Greek and Roman Mythology, Wonder Woman (2017), Wonder Woman (Comics), Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: Antiope and Menalippe are wives, F/F, Polyamorous Characters, Prequel, Slow Burn, Themyscira, i don't make the rules
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-02-04 08:34:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12767136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinkshiori/pseuds/Pinkshiori
Summary: In the beginning men were created to be good: strong and just. But war was in their blood and quickly they gave into violence and women fell victims to them one by one. So the Gods gave them a second chance and created the Amazons. This is the history of Themyscira from its creation to its fall, maybe, and in the middle of it the story of Antiope, her annoying elder sister, and her wife Menalippe.





	1. Amazons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cinis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinis/gifts), [amante](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amante/gifts).



> There it is, finally, my own contribution to our wonderful yet tiny fandom. Because nothing screams 'True Love' like a dead lesbian and her wife we only get to see for 57 seconds. So embark with me on a journey through the history of Themyscira and the Amazons, in a story that has as many historical inaccuracies as an episode of Xena Warrior Princess, because all I know from Greek mythology and world history comes from that show.  
> I tried to draw from various Wonder Woman comics canons, not necessarily the movie's, as well as the limited knowledge I have of ancient history.
> 
> (Also, I haven't decided yet but this will most probably ignore anything that came from the Justice League movie, not that I didn't like it, but I love my Amazons too much.)

_In the beginning men were created to be good: strong and just. But war was in their blood and quickly they gave into violence. When the Gods set out to fix this it was already too late. Greed and corruption had become men's nature and women fell victims to them one by one._

_The women's souls became stars, shining in the darkness, pulsing with energy, each to its own rythme and yet in perfect harmony. They refused to move on. So the Goddesses plucked the stars from the void. They made them bodies from clay they scrapped from the bottom of the sea and breathed life back them._

_Only one little star did not move. It wasn't her time yet._

* * *

Hippolyta is the first to emerge from the sea. She catches a deep breath and looks around her in wonder. Antiope's head bobs up right after, closely followed by hundreds of other women. Confused yet full of energy they swim to the shore and pull themselve onto dry land. 

The Goddesses are waiting for them: Athena, goddess of war and wisdom, Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty and pleasure, Artemis, goddess of the Moon and hunting and Hestia, goddess of the hearth and family, according to the avatars they have chosen in this time and place.

This is the island of Themyscira, they tell the women. It is their land to use as they will, unhindered by the presence of men.

The women break into a joyful run. They spread across the wide plains and rocky hill, exploring every nook and crevice of their new home. 

There is a whole city - white stone and gentle curves following the slopes of the hill it was built upon - completely furbished with all the necessities, only waiting for the women to inhabit it and give it life. Two peacocks and an armadillo stroll lazily through the sunny streets, barely bothered by the intrusion. 

Themyscira is generous. The water is clear and fresh, trees are heavy with fruits and the heard of goats the women spot in one of the valley will provide a most welcome source of milk and meat if they so desire. 

At twilight they all come back to the beach. They gather driftwood and build several large fires around which they huddle for the rest of the night.

* * *

With the first morning light come the first memories. One by one the women start to remember the life that was their own before they were offered Paradise. 

They were Amazons the most of them, ruthless daughters of Ares to the Greeks, simple horsewomen and warriors from nomadic tribes around the Black Sea as far as they are concerned.

They ask Hippolyta to takes back her role as Queen.

"It should be Otrera," she protests. 

Otrera was the original Queen, the very first one in a series of valliant women. But Otrera isn't there. She passed away surrounded by her sisters at the height of her glory. Unlike Hippolyta, Otrera didn't die at the hands of a man, seduced then tricked and killed so that a murderer could atone for his crimes. The Goddesses had no reason to pull her from her peaceful afterlife. 

So Hippolyta becomes Queen of the Amazons again.

As soon as Antiope gets her memories back, she is by Hippolyta's side, pressing her body into hers in a desperate embrace. For while the last memory Hippolyta has of her former life is Antiope brandishing a sword ready to strike down a Greek soldier, Antiope remembers so much more. Hippolyta's blood and Heracles' victorious smile, the anguished cry that tore her throat raw, and years and years of mourning a sister she never thought she would see again. They may have been warriors once, tough and trained to hide their emotions, but all that matters now is the bound they have, built through years of rivalry and teasing, and the knowledge that they would, and did, die for each other.

Hippolyta grabs her little sister's head and runs her hands through her hair and over her face. It is her alright, the sandy blond hair, big blue eyes, strong jaw and high cheekbones much like hers. Only the teenager Hippolyta remembers is now a grown woman almost as old as she is, the tiny lines etched at the corner of her eyes and mouth signs of the years she had gone through without her.

"You're still so short," she says and Antiope punches her in the shoulder for an answer.

Menalippe falls to her knees before the two legends she had only known by the shadow of their fame.

She remembers a time when she was Queen of the Amazons too, only long enough to fall at a Greek soldier's dagger. She never really understood what made her people chose her after Hippolyta's loss. She had been an exceptional horsewoman and fighter, but that didn't mean she had what it took to be a leader. 

"We attacked Athens a short while later. To avenge you," she says to Hippolyta. "And to bring you back," she adds turning to Antiope. As soon as she sets her eyes on the petite woman her heart leaps in her chest and she finds it unbearable to look away, for there she is, finally, the object of the quest she had led until her last breath. "But we couldn't find you," Menalippe finishes sadly.

When Heracles defeated Hippolyta, Antiope was taken away by one of his mate, 'as a spoil of war' he claimed in that typical way men have to believe themselves entitled to a woman's body. He pulled her from the wide plains of Pontus and hauled her up on a boat to a foreign land with the promise of a good life as a hero's wife. But the hills of Athens were narrow and dry and the horses there sad skinny creatures. They never got the space to roam as freely as they deserved and neither did Antiope. She longed for nothing else but to see the endless sky of Colchis again. Her husband only had eyes for the sea. Antiope made every effort to fit in. She learned the Athenians' language when none of them would try to understand hers. She respected their ways and customs. She let her world be reduced to the walls of her house, all in the hopes that one day she might be rewarded with enough freedom to go see her people again. This wasn't what happened. Soon Theseus set his eyes on a new adventure, a new trophy, and let her be forgotten without thinking of setting her free.

"By the time my sisters came," she explains, "I had grown so weak I could barely lift a sword."

She never fought on the Greek side, as some bards might have sung. Only she was so untrained that she went down in the first minutes of the battle, before she could have a chance to signal to the Amazons that she was there, that she hadn't forgotten her home.

From then one she vows never to let herself grow that weak again. 

"I am sorry," Menalippe says simply with her head down. "I failed you. I couldn't free you," she says to Antiope, then turns to Hippolyta. "And my failure allowed the Athenians to wipe out the army you had built."

Neither Antiope nor Hippolyta know what to say to her, they just stand awkwardly, looking for words to say that they don't blame her, that if she considers herself a failure then they are no better than her.

"That is absolutely untrue," a voice pipes up that belongs to a tall, bright, young girl. She is Penthesilea and she was Queen too some time after Menalippe. "The Amazons remained very much alive. And for each of you that went down in the battle of Athens, three more rose and swore to avenge you. And we did. At Troy. Destroyed those Greeks like they had once destroyed us."

"But we lost," Venelia, points out. She knows, she was there.

Penthesilea turns around and winks at her. "Worth it!" she says with all the proud restlessness of her youth. "Besides, we are here now and we will live forever. Them on the other hand, who will remember their names thousands of years from now?"

* * *

As Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta recieves a golden girdle from the Gods : a heavy belt that holds the source of their superhuman strength and longevity. As leader she will wield the most power, it will also be her responsibility watch over its source and make sure it doesn't fall into enemie's hands.

Hippolyta's first decision as Queen is to have the Amazons rebuild Themyscira as a society and as a city as glorious as Pontus had once been.

It is not done in a day of course, but the island lacks of nothing: from hemp and flax for clothes to clay and iron ore from the eastern side of the island. It is clear that the God's willed it that they got anything they need. Pretty soon they have a fully functional economy base on fair trade and sharing. Everyone has a role and gets their wants met without seeking to hoard any more than what they need. They bring in leather and weapon from the outside world, until Io sets up her own forge. She is good, the weapons she makes way better than any the Amazons could hope trade in from the world of men.

Antiope's first decision as Antiope is to rebuild an army.

The Gods willed for them to be the fiercest warriors and so they will be. Even if there are never any more battle to fight, she will always be ready and so will her sisters. 

But there are more battles, there always are. Men are relentless in their cruelty. They fight for everything: honour, power, wealth, religion. The last one is the most confusing one. Haven't men learned already that their gods are always the same energies only taking different avatars according to what the men want to see. The Amazons know theirs are still there. You can't kill a god unless the gods themselves want it so. 

Time runs differently on Themyscira. Every time the Amazons set out to battle they face new enemies, cross the path of new heroes, see the rise and fall of uncountable empires and tip the fate of the world one way or another according to their whim, always towards the greater good. Towards peace.

It's ironical, really, this whole fighting for peace thing. But apparently it is the only language men will understand.

* * *

More stars light up in the darkness and the Goddesses take care of them. The Amazons welcome new members almost every day. Like fiery Boudicca with her red mane, who united and led her people into revolt.

Boudicca who wakes up broken and haunted on the island, unable to look into her daughters' eyes for every time she does she sees them being raped and slaughtered by roman soldiers.

They get teenagers, children who picked up weapons and died for their people before they were old enough to understand what was worth fighting for so hard.

They get non fighters too. Women who fell victims of a war that wasn't theirs or under the fists of a man who called them wives. Women who died without a chance to defend themselves but with so much rage, so much anger at the injustice of it all that their gods just had to grant them a second chance. Those are Antiope's most diligent students and when Menalippe sees the smile on young Artemis' face as she lands her first death blow on a Spartan warlord she knows they are doing the right thing.

* * *

But of course nothing compares to Antiope's glee when she is on a battlefield. Slashing and thrusting, her face covered in blood and her head thrown back in delight, she is magnificent. 

Sometimes a battle will turn into a contest between Hippolyta and her, although the two sisters always come out as equally matched in the end.

Hippolyta in the midst of battle is majestic, all about raw power and ruthlessness.

Antiope is just as fierce but her style is built on stealth and efficiency. She's the shortest of the Amazons - something they never fail to tease her about - but also the lightest. Her signature move is using Menalippe's shield and strength as a spring board to leap into the air and take down up to five soldiers at once with her bow. The move requires perfect coordination, it takes them years to develop it and never works quite as well when they try it with someone else. 

* * *

As the general of the Amazon army Antiope asks Menalippe to be her Second in Command. Menalippe doesn't understand why. Her own experience at the head of an army still haunts her and she wouldn't want to ruin Antiope's hard work by her own inadequacy. She suggests Antiope picked Penthesilea instead.

"I need someone I can trust. Penthesilea is too impatient and hot blooded, she couldn't bear the discipline this position requires," Antiope says.

"Like this wasn't a perfect description of yourself," Menalippe says.

"Which is exactly why I need you, Second."

"Oh."

If Antiope wants it, then Menalippe will make sure she gets the best Second in Command there can be. It's her way to make amends for letting her down in Athens.

"You don't owe me anything," Antiope tells her later when she lets this slip. "I didn't need saving then and I certainly do not now. You're not responsible for what happened in my former life, just like I'm not responsible for what happened to Hippolyta. We all got a clean slate here, just let yourself be," Antiope says.

She puts her hand on Menalippe's shoulder. It's the first contact they share that isn't training or battle related and they both imperceptibly lean into the touch. Antiope leaves her hand there a little longer than would be considered proper. Neither of them mentions it.


	2. Oracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Menalippe gets a gift from the gods

Menalippe is barely two weeks into her new position when she collapses in the middle of a training session. Instantly the whole army stops and freeze. There are no known illnesses on Themyscira, the only thing that gets the Amazons to seek medical attention are battle wounds and even those are rare.

"Keep practicing." Antiope commands to her army. "Pen, I'm gonna have to leave you in charge," she says.

Penthesilea nods solemnly. While the Amazons pick their staves back up Antiope kneels by Menalippe's side and lifts her up her arms.

"Menalippe, can you hear me?" She calls to her Second in Command. All she gets in answer is an incomprehensible mumble interrupted by a loud pained growl as Antiope jolts Menalippe's head a little too hard.

Menalippe can hear her, roughly. But she's unable to answer. All her senses are taken over by an overflow of information. There is the smell of burning incense mixed with blood, Hippolyta bent over in despair crying for a lost lover, the feel of iron against her wrists and the painful burn of the desert sun. A thick mist enveloping Themyscira and Hippolyta looking at her with pained eyes. There is also Antiope standing proud on her horse charging into a battle Menalippe doesn't recognize. Antiope crying out from a blow to her shoulder. A scar that Menalippe has never seen and the feel of it under her fingers. Antiope again, her naked body pressing against Menalippe's, her hot breath mingling with hers. Antiope throwing her head back in pleasure and her breasts sleek with sweat rubbing against Menalippe's. The sensation of a mouth on her neck, a hand grabbing her ass, Antiope's name on her lips.

When Menalippe comes to her senses Antiope is by her side, running a wet cloth over her head under Epione's supervision. The General herself has carried her over to the medical quarters. So the dreams were nothing more but hallucination induced by the proximity of Antiope's body. That doesn't explain the other flashes though.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" Antiope asks when she sees Menalippe starting to stir.

"The practice?" Menalippe asks.

"They'll be fine, Pen can handle a little staff training."

Menalippe smiles faintly. "Thank you" she says quietly. She tries to pull herself upright but is immediately seized by a brutal headache that leaves her panting and whining with a hand over her eyes. 

It's more painful than any battle wounds she had ever acquired put together. More painful than an Athenian sword piercing through her lung, for that at least had been over quickly. Right now the pain is all Menalippe can think about. It's like it has always been there and will never go away.

Antiope runs to get help. Pretty soon a crowd is massing itself around Menalippe's bed, spilling out of the medical building. 

"Out," Hippolyta commands. "Give her space." 

One by one Antiope's soldiers leave the room until it's only her, Epione, Menalippe, Hippolyta and Penthesilea.

Menalippe thinks she recognizes Antiope bending over her, touching her face with her hand. But it could also be another hallucination, she can't be sure. 

Then she's standing in a tent and The Queen is sleeping and there's a shadow hovering above her. She opening her eyes and sees Hippolyta with her brows knitted in worry.

"My queen," she mumbles. "The shadow, the knife..." she trails off.

"She's delirious," Epione says.

"She's having visions," Penthesilea interrupts. All heads turn to her. "It used to happen to a friend of mine," she explains darkly. "She'll need all the support she can get."

"What happened to your friend?" Hippolyta asks.

Penthesilea shrugs. "I don't know, I wasn't around anymore," she says. "But I remember that no one would listen to her and it was killing her slowly."

Antiope storms out of the room and strides into the temple. She summons the gods without the tiniest amount of patience. Antiope does not pray and she certainly does not beg. She demands an explanation.

The Goddesses are as confused as she is, until Hermes comes forth.

"It is a gift," he says. "That I bestowed on her so that she may be the link between the Amazons and us."

"You mean the visions are real?" Antiope asks.

"Yeah, I gave her the gift of prophecy. Is your sister not happy with her gift that you are calling to us in her behalf?" He inquires.

"Happy?" Antiope repeats with a murderous glare. "She's has barely been able to sit up for the past twelve hours because of the visions you planted into her mind. And you call that a gift?"

At least Hermes has the decency to look sorry. "I always forget how strongly the humans react to this, even you Amazons."

Artemis snickers in the back.

"Well you certainly messed up, dear brother." She says. 

"You! You fix this." Antiope says to Hermes, stomping her foot and straightening her posture. Because who care if he's a God. It's his fault if her friend is in pain.

"The Amazon is right," Athena interveens. "We would hate to loose one of our daughters to your foolish decision."

"It was a gift, a reward," Hermes explains.

"It's torture." Antiope says.

Without further arguing the God relieves Menalippe of her pain.

"You will be the bridge between us and the Amazons," he says. "From now on it is through you that we will speak."

"Thank you," Menalippe says flatly, because what else do you say to God? "But why."

"We saw you were unhappy. You're afraid of making the same mistake you did as a Queen."

Menalippe nods. What he says is true, but she hates that he's saying it out loud when the whole Amazon nation and especially Antiope can hear.

"So we gave you a gift as token of our trust," Hermes says.

" _You_ did, brother," Artemis counters.

"I did. You will be the Island's oracle and you will assist me in transmitting messages between the realm of the Gods and yours. You may call for you power at will and use it as you see fit. But you also will be expected to relay any urgent message we wish to convey."

"But I like my current position," Menalippe says. She like working with Antiope and wouldn't trade her position for anything.

"And you can keep it." Hermes assures her. "Just never doubt your value again."

"You confronted a God." Menalippe says after a while, when the Gods and most Amazons have gone.

"I couldn't let my Second in Command waste away." Antiope says.

"You confronted a God," Menalippe repeats in awe.

"Antiope stared down a bear when she was five." Hippolyta says with a smirk. "Did you think a God would impress her?"

Menalippe nodds. "Fair enough."

Antiope narrows her eyes at Hippolyta in annoyance.

Menalippe thinks she looks beautiful. Some of her hair have escaped her usually tight braid, probably as a result of her stressing over her second and her posture is a tiny bit more relaxed that usual now that they all know Menalippe is going ot be fine. She looks a lot like in Menalippe's visions. It is pretty disturbing to have memories of things that haven't happened yet. Menalippe blushes a little.

"What?" Antiope asks.

"Nothing." Menalippe says shaking her head. "Nothing."

And really it's not appropriate to have those kind of thoughts when barely an hour ago she was sobbing from pain.

* * *

It takes some time but Menalippe learns how to use her gift at will. She teaches herself to block the vision as well as to call them forth when required. It is not as easy as Hermes made it seem.

As the Gods have explained the visions only show what is most likely to happen should no one make any major change. Nothing is set in stone. Menalippe's prophecies are nothing but sugestions, clue to guide the Amazons into making the right decisions. It is an incredible power to have, and Hippolyta is fascinated by the possibilities it offers. She associates her to every decision she has to take for Themyscira, as Speaker of the Gods. Menalippe spends more time in Hippolyta's palace as her officiel Advisor than with Antiope now.

Sparing with Hippolyta is wonderful, the sheer strength, the power. She's relentless quite in the same way her sister is. She pushes Menalippe to her limits most often than none. Yet Menalippe finds herself looking North of the palace where Antiope has set her training ground more often than she should.

It's not that she misses Antiope, not really, she still sees her everyday. Only she keeps wondering if and when the visions she had that first day will come true. 

And what she needs to do for it to happen.

"I'm not holding you in," Hippolyta says interrupting her musings.

"Sorry?"

"Why aren't you assisting my sister with her army anymore?" Hippolyta asks.

In the distance Menalippe sees a blond Amazon -- Venelia probably, or Aella maybe, she can't really tell from the distance -- do a backflip off a horse and grab a bow in the process. The girl shoots and misses her target. From her position Menalippe can see at least seven different things wrong with her form and surely enough in an instant Antiope is right by her side correcting her.

Menalippe frowns at Hippolyta.

"I thought my place was here by your side now."

Hippolyta shakes her head. "I like having you here but I can't expect you to be on hand at any moment in the off-chance that the need for a prophecy would occur."

* * *

"General," Menalippe greets Antiope. 

"Advisor," Antiope says. "What Godly message are you here to relay to me today?"

"None, General. I am here to train."

Antiope raises an eyebrow.

"So my sister finally let you go."

"She was never keeping me."

"Ah, could have fooled me. I wouldn't be surprised is she decided to keep you out of sibling rivalry."

"Surely the Queen in above such petty considerations, don't you think General?"

"Not when you grew up with her, my sister has a way of making the world gravitate around her."

"Maybe so. This time though I was the only one keeping myself away from the grounds."

"Should I expect my second in command back now?"

Menalippe is surprised. "Are you saying I can have my position back?"

"It was always yours." Antiope says.

Penthesilea filled in for Menalippe during the time she was away but there never was any doubt that Menalippe was the only Second Antiope would ever want. Or tolerate.

"I think Penthesilea will see your return as a most welcome break."

Antiope is right. As fierce as Penthesilea is in battle, she lacks the discipline the Amazon army requires. Or rather the discipline Hippolyta requires from the Amazon army. So many rules to follow, so many reports to make, that Antiope wasted no time dumping on her Second. Menalippe. She narrows her eyes at Antiope.

"How many reports late are you?" she asks.

"My dear sister and you are far too serious for your own good." Antiope says, then she extends her hand with a smile and they take a hold of each other's wrists "Welcome back, Second."


	3. Traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Amazons face their most powerful enemy yet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up that I added two extra sentences to the first chapter so that this once makes sense. You don't have to re read it just know that in this universe Hippolyta has been entrusted with the Golden Girdle that is the source of her power as well as that of all the Amazons. It'll make sense at the end of the chapter.

Ultimately is is a woman who causes their demise.

People call her The Conqueror, her real name was lost to her title long ago when she took control of the Corinthian army. The Amazons form an alliance with her during yet another campaign against the Romans. She hates them as much as they do.

It is said The Conqueror hails from somewhere in Thrace. She could be a descendant of what was left of Penthesilea's people, a distant cousin. She certainly has the build and skills to show for it.

Unlike Hippolyta's, The Conqueror's army is all men and men only. 

"Men are so much easier to control," she explains. All you have to do is to shout a little louder than the next warlord and they will gladly pledge allegiance to you. Individually they might not be as good as the Amazons, far from it, but as a group they will blindly follow any order no matter how dangerous or destructive. This makes them the perfect tool. The bigger the group, the easier it is to manipulate.

There's no arguing with this logic, seeing as she did manage to bring Macedonia and part of Anatolia to its knees. Still, Hippolyta likes to think that each of her Amazons can hold her own and will not hesitate to stand up to her if she becomes unreasonable.

The Conqueror and the Queen strike and extraordinary kind of kinship, a form of comradery that can only grow between truly matched equals. The Conqueror is as dark as Hippolyta is fair and just as tall. The vision of them riding together at the head of their joined armies in enough to strike fear in any soldier's heart.

"The whole world could be ours," She tells Hippolyta.

But Hippolyta doesn't want the whole world. "All I aspire to is the wellbeing of my people," she says. "And peace."

Riding just behind them Antiope and Menalippe share an amused glance as their Queen obliviously shots down The Conqueror's advances once again. They wonder how Philippus and Derinoe would react to sharing with The Conqueror. There is no such thing as monogamy on Themyscira. It already was a foreign concept for the Amazons in their previous lives and in certainly has no place on their island. Love is meant to be given and recieved freely but something tells them that The Conqueror might not be of the same opinion.

"Have the Gods sent you any vision about my sister's new suitor?" Antiope asks with a smirk.

Menalippe shakes her head no. Anything about The Conqueror is a blur. Legend has it that Ares, the God of War is her patron, some would even say that she is his creation. She is an anomaly that the other Gods have no hold on. They can sent neither promises nor warnings about her.

* * *

The Conqueror leads them through Dacia towards the high plates of Samartia. There are rumors of a magical dagger hidden somewhere in the mountains with the power to rid the Amazons of the powers bestowed upon them by the Gods, to turn them back into regular humans. They cannot let the Romans put their hands on it first.

Menalippe has seen the dagger and its power in her early visions and she cannot wait to retrieve and destroy it.

When the first snowflakes start to fall on them, the Amazons almost stop their horses. Ignoring the men's snickers they star in amazement at the magical flurry of white dots flying around them. A flake lands on the tip of Menalippe's nose and makes her sneeze. Antiope chuckles. Penthesilea makes a show of sticking her tongue out to try and catch snow on it. This earns her a series of coy giggles from the Amazons around her. Venelia and Artemis waste no time in imitating her.

Hippolyta shakes her head. "Children" she chastises.

But she too is overcome with nostalgia for the harsh Scythian winters they left behind so long ago.

After two hours of pushing their horses through cold mud, shivering under their fur blankets and blowing on their hands to keep them warm, the Amazons remember why there is no snow on Themyscira. They will take being warm and comfortable over a few pretty snowflakes any time, thank you very much. They might certainly not die from the cold, but that doesn't mean they have to enjoy it.

When the Blizzard becomes too thick and the sky too dark to see where they are going, The Conqueror halts the armies. No need to risk falling off a cliff for a few more miles. In a well practiced dance they set up camp and tend to the horses.

The Conqueror offers the Queen to share her tent once again, but Hippolyta settles for a smaller one of her own. She likes to keep to herself when they are out on campaigns.The pleasures of the flesh are something Hippolyta keeps for Themyscira. Despite The Conqueror's disappointment, she is not keen on bringing love so close to the battlefield. 

* * *

In the middle of the night the blizzard finally stops and the heavy clouds scatter away, making way both for the full Moon's light and a sharper, dryer, cold. It is such a draft of freezing wind that wakes Derinoe up. She walks out of her tent hoping to share the warmth of a sentry's campfire.

She can hear someone else moving through the camp: either a guard going to take their shift or another Amazon on her way to a little fun with one of The Conqueror's soldier. It would be a pretty common occurence and Derinoe pays no attention to it. Not everyone shares The Queen's opinion on celibacy and many need the physical release.

Her eyes linger on the Queen's tent. The moonlight that shines from behind draws the silhouette of the sleeping woman on the tent's clothe like a screen. Derinoe lets out a wistful sigh. The campaign is taking longer than planned and she cannot wait to be back on Themyscira and into the Queen's bed. If only for the warmth of it. She shivers and pulls her fur coat tighter around her. Maybe a fire is not what she needs. She should turn back in and see if Phillippus would be willing to share some body heat instead.

Suddenly a second silhouette appears inside The Queen's tent while she remains asleep. From her position Derinoe sees the shadow lift something shiny above its head in a menacing motion. Without hesitation Derinoe runs to The Queen's tent. She rips the screen door open and throws herself upon The Queen, between her and whatever the shadow is holding.

Hippolyta awakes to a hooded figure plunging a knife into her lover's chest.

"Derinoe!" she cries out as the younger Amazon slumps down onto the bed. 

Immediately Hippolyta grabs her sword and lashes at the figure. Her attacker drops the knife and takes a step back. They reach for their own sword and the movement makes the hood fall off.

"You!" Hippolyta exclaims in a breath.

The Conqueror is looking at her with a superior smile, her features distorted by the darkness of the tent.

The light emmited by the knife flickers and dies.

"The Dagger," Hippolyta exclaims. "You had it all along."

She turns back to Derinoe. The dagger has taken her Amazon powers and human time is catching up with her body. Already she looks like an old woman.

"My Queen," she whispers faintly and lifts a hand to touch Hippolyta's cheek.

All Hippolyta can do is to press her forehead to hers and kiss her dry lips as life leaves her for good. Soon Derinoe's body withers in The Queen's arms and turns into dust before she can fully comprehend what is happening.

Hippolyta blinks and stares at the ruined furs. She vaguely hears The Conqueror give a whistled signal. The few seconds she stands still, from the shock both of the loss and of the betrayal are enough for The Conqueror to move behind her and snaps a pair of manacles onto her wrists. /p>

"Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons," she says. "You really are pathetic. Had I known all I had to do to break you was to take your little play thing I wouldn't have bothered with the dagger at all."

Hippolyta struggles against her bounds but the metal doesn't move. Usually any Amazon would be able to break free of this kind of chains with barely any effort. Something is wrong. All of her strength is gone.

"They are made of the same metal as the dagger. " The Conqueror says. "Don't waste your energy."

"What did you do?" Hippolyta gasps as she realises that The Conqueror may have been planning this from the very beginning.

"What I needed to." The Conqueror says and rips the golden belt from around The Queen's waist effortlessly.

A fight breaks out in the camp. Several Amazon battle cries resonate inside the tent, followed by the clatter of metal against metal. The Conqueror digs her finger into Hippolyta's neck and drags her outside.

* * *

Antiope and Menalippe stand back to back, holding a group of The Conqueror at bay with their swords. They barefoot on the freezing dirt ground, wearing nothing more than their night clothes and the protective headgear they rarely put aside.

One man takes a chance and lungs at Menalippe's right side. Instinctively, Antiope blocks his attack with her shield and knocks him out with a blow to his helmet by the handle of her sword. Moving in unison the two Amazons exchange their positions and Menalippe takes out two more men in surprise. A third one raises a spiked mace at Antiope just as she is busy pulling her sword out from a soldier's guts. Before he can land his blow, Phillippus's war cry echoes from behind him and she sends him flying away with a pull on her lasso. Antiope thanks her with a nod of her head.

None of them understand why their supposed allies decided to suddenly turn upon them, but they are not really surprised either.

The soldiers keep coming at the Amazons in seemingly endless waves. One of them tries to grab Antiope but she steps aside quickly and catches his right arms with her left hand. With only a twist of her wrist she break the bones in his and sends him toppling to the ground. She turned around to face another round of attacks and that is when she notices The Conqueror holding a knife at her sister's throat.

She falters.

It is enough for another soldier to plunge his dagger into her exposed shoulder and she cries out from the searing pain.

Menalippe throws her own attackers away and rushes to Antiope's side.

"General!" she yells. "Antiope!"

"Hippolyta." Antiope says.

Menalippe whips her head arond to look in the same direction as her.

The Conqueror has been watching the fight calmly with a satisfied smirk on her face. "Stop," she commands, and both the Amazons and the soldiers freeze.

Right at that moment Penthesilea finishes leaping down from a tree and lands in the middle of the battle with a yell, slicing into three men at once.

"I said stop." The Conqueror repeats harsher and presses her blade against Hippolyta's throat. "Or she dies."

Phillippus drops her weapons to the ground as she stares in horror at the impossible droplets of blood already pearling at The Queen's neck.

"All of you put down you weapons," The Conqueror commands. "Your Queen has fallen. Surrender." she says.

Through the pain in her shoulder Antiope notices that Hippolyta's girdle is gone from her hips and hangs limply from The Conqueror's hand. It is Heracles all over again. Only this time the betrayal came from a woman. Hippolyta hungs her head down in shame and with a slight shake of her head she signals to her warriors to follows The Conqueror orders.

"No!" Antiope shouts. She pushes on her weakened legs and lungs at The Conqueror herself. The Conqueror easily deflects Antiope's blow, eliciting another cry from her as she pushes against her injured shoulder and throws her to the ground.

Several Amazons let go of there swords and The Conqueror's soldiers waste no time in binding their wrists with wide cuffs similars to Hippolyta's. Menalippe rises from her crouched position at Antiope's side. "Why do you do that?" she asks The Conqueror. "What kind of leader betrays her own allies?"

With one kick to Hippolyta's stomach The Conqueror sends her to her knees and discards her like a dirty rag to walk up to Menalippe. With a cold smile she bring her hand to cup Menalippe's face.

"That's the problem with you, Amazons. You trust people to be as honest and righteous as you are," she gives a small laugh and squeezes Menalippe's cheeks harder. "You never learn."

Menalippe grimaces from the pain in her jaw but refuses to make any sound.

"The King of Smyrna has heard of your legendary skills," The Conqueror goes on. "and offered me rule over Lydia as well as fifty thousand men in exchange of a dozen of you," she reveals with a self satisfied shrug. "Who am I to refuse such a deal?"

"You would betray your own gender?" Menalippe hisses. "For what? Power and more destruction?"

The Conqueror raises an eyebrow. "You speak as if power is not the only thing that matters in this world. How naive of you. It certainly does more than some trivial physiological considerations."

"Let me guess," Hippolyta chokes out. "You're gonna take his deal and then turn against him too."

"Possibly." The Conqueror smiles. "But that's the least of your concern now, is it?"

"You have no honor." Hippolyta spits. "You're no better than any man."

"I never said I was," The Conqueror states coldly and with one raised hand she signals to her men to cuff the rest of the Amazon and start rounding them up so they can chain them to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not much Antiope/Menalippe romance in this chapter. I wanted to build their relationship and how they work together and trust each other before moving onto romance.  
> Derinoe comes from the Prime Earth Universe (Wonder Woman 2013) in which she was Hippolyta's lover when they were teenagers. She was stabbed with a magic dagger when protecting Hippolyta from an assassin sent by Hecate. Like in this chapter the dagger causes her to age, but unlike here she does not die but lives long enough to become a villain.
> 
> Finally if you recognized who The Conqueror is, then you know you have very good tastes (and probably a blessed childhood.)  
> I first intended the villain to be a Spartan warlord and / or Hecate like in the comics, but I couldn't find a way to make it work and fit the (kinda lose) historical timeline, hence The Conqueror.


	4. Captives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Amazons are taken as slaves by the Conqueror's men

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holiday to all of you reading fanfiction instead of doing whatever society / religion requires you to. I'm right there with you!

The Conqueror's men lock them up in barred chariots they had brought along disguised as storage carts. The cold iron cuffs bite into their skins as a constant reminder of their loss.

Among this disaster Menalippe finds herself thankful. Aella and Artemis had the presence of mind to cut their horses lose when things started to go down at the camp. Small mercies. Maybe they will find their way back to Themyscira before them. Maybe they'll go roam free in the endless plains of Eastern Dacia. Menalippe thinks she can survive being bound and brutalized thanks to Antiope's demanding training to privation and pain resistance, but seeing her precious mare straining under a man's weight would have been too much.

Antiope sits slumped against her shoulder. She hasn't made a single cocky comment since the battle and it worries Menalippe more than anything else. More than the chains around her arms and more than Hippolyta's fixed gaze as she sits unmoving in a corner. Despite Phillipus' constant attempts at coaxing her out of her silence she hasn't said a word since it all went down. Menalippe cannot beging to imagine what must be going through her head.

"Ugh, there has to be a way!" Penthesilea yells. 

She flexes her arms and pulls on the chains. Her muscles bulge and ripple but the cuffs remain intact. She screams out her frustration again and kicks the irons bars at her side, still without any result. 

"Keep quiet," Venelia pleads. "It's no use."

Twice already the soldiers have found them too rowdy for their taste and Venelia's throat still bears the marks of it. The ringing in her head is only starting to fade.

The Conqueror has disappeared long ago, towards other places to conquer, to enslave, to destroy. She has instructed her men to take the captive Amazons down to a small port on the shores of Axeinos, where they hand them over to the crew of a slaver ship headed to Smyrna. At least on the ship they unbind their legs and only leave them with their wrists bound with about than two feet of chain between them.

Antiope spends most of the crossing passed out from the pain or the infection. Menalippe would almost think it a good thing. There is nothing The General hates more than being at sea except maybe being incapacitated. What Menalippe doesn't know, though, it that it has more to do with the memories it brings than with the seasickness that comes with it.

Menalippe barely leaves Antiope's side, not that she really has anywhere to go anyway, locked up in the lower deck of a slaver's ship with the rest of the Amazon army. When she does it is to tend to her natural needs and scavenge for food and fresh clothes to dress Antiope's shoulder with. Despite The Conqueror's instruction that they should all arrive in Smyrna alive and sound, the slave merchants have but little regards for their comfort. Food is scarce and water even more.

"We'll get through this," Menalippe soothes as she wipes The General's brow. 

She does the best she can but there is only so much she can do without Epione's guidance and the proper equipment. 

The wound is as ugly as it can get. Menalippe knows it will scar badly. She had seen it in her visions. It will form an intricate web of raised skin that Antiope will never try to hide when she gets better. 

If she gets betters.

She hasn't had any vision since they left Themyscira and she is starting to feel like the Gods have abandoned her and the Amazons for good. 

"We'll get through this," she repeats even though she doubts it more and more each day. 

Menalippe wonders if this is how it ends, their story, before it had a chance to begin. Before _she_ gave it a chance to begins. There's nothing she regrets more than relying on her visions, thinking she'd let it come to her naturally, comfortable in the knowledge that when you're immortal there is always tomorrow. _But maybe not anymore,_ she thinks sullenly as she brushes a sweaty strand of hair away from The General's face and sighs.

Antiope's recovery starts right after they pass the Bosphorus strait. Her temperature goes down for the first time in days in the middle of the night. Menalippe wakes up to the absence of heat and fears the worst for a few dreadful seconds, before she realizes that Antiope is actually breathing a lot more easily than before. Perfectly awake, she is staring at her slumbering army with wide eyes and a clenched jaw.

"How long?" she asks when she feels Menalippe stir beside her.

"You're awake," Menalippe exclaims with a soft smile.

"How long?" Antiope repeats more forcefully.

"Don't strain yourself," Menalippe says pushing herself up on her elbow to get a better look at her.

In the dim light Antiope holds her gaze with a stern look.

"Seven days," Menalippe caves. "Two from the camp to the port and five on the ship so far. We should be in Smyrna by tomorrow afternoon."

"Hippolyta?" Antiope asks.

Menalippe silently points to The Queen a few feet from them. Her eyes are open but blank.

"Help me up," Antiope says. 

The Amazons have begun to wake up one by one at the noise she's making.

"Antiope..." Menalippe starts in an attempt to calm her down.

Antiope pays her no mind and insists on getting up on her weakened legs. Reluctantly Menalippe places her shoulder under hers and helps push her up. Antiope wobbles a little but quickly regains her balance. 

With a few decided strides she goes to stand right in front of Hippolyta.

"Get up," she says.

At the sound of her voice Hippolyta slowly lifts her head and stares at her. The corner of her lip trembles and slightly curls up, the only indication that she has recognized her.

"What is this?" Antiope asks, her voice loud and stern, making the Amazons closest to them cower away.

"Antiope," Hippolyta finally says in a breath. "We lost, sister." 

Antiope clenches her jaw and narrows her eyes at Hippolyta's words.

"She lied to me..." The Queen trails off in a weak voice.

" So what?" Antiope explodes. "You're going to sit there and let them win? You expect everyone to be as truthful and honest as you. But they aren't, they'll never be. Deal with it."

Hippolyta frows and raises her bound hands to show Antiope. 

"They took our gifts," she says. "The Gods are no longer with us."

Antiope contemplates her own wrists for a second. Then she locks her hands together and swings them as hard as she can into Hippolyta's jaw. 

Menalippe winces in sympathy as blood flows from The Queen's mouth.

"Have you forgotten I trained the best warriors in the known world?" Antiope asks."With or without powers. Now Get. Up," she insists.

Right at that moment the door bursts open and a guard walks in.

"Hey, what's all this ruckus about?" He yells. It is the one they have come to call One-Ear. Because of his missing ear. The Amazons are warriors, not poets. He's not very bright but certainly strong and big enough - easily twice Antiope's height - to crush one of them under his weight.

Antiope turns around and spits at his feet.

"You little--" he starts and pulls out a dagger.

Antiope takes one quick step aside to duck the blade aimed at her stomach. Her unexpected move makes One-ear lose his balance for a second. It is all Hippolyta needs to react and jump on her feet to hit him in the head with her elbow. She winds one of her arm around the inside of his and grabs the chain between her own wrists so that his elbow rests on her forearm and she pushes both on his shoulder and wrist. The elbow snaps with a satisfying crack and One-ear drops the dagger with a cry. Putting all her weight on his shoulder Hippolyta sends him to the ground. She retrieves the dagger and gets up to look at Antiope. 

The whole deck has fallen silent except for One-ear's pained groans and Hippolyta's heavy breathing. The two sisters hold each other's gaze with an unreadable expression. 

Then a small smug smile appears on Antiope's face and she nods. Hippolyta brandishes the knife above her head and the rest of the Amazons join her in a loud war cry. 

Using the stolen dagger as a lever they manage to break the chains between their wrists.

It is not long before the others slavers come down to investigate their mate's absence.

When the first one sees One-Ear lying face down on the floor he raises his own sword and strike the Amazon closest to him. Instinctively Venelia raises her arm in defense and his weapon clashes against her metal cuff with a loud bang. When he recoils all can see that while the cuff is unmarred, the slaver's blade is ruined, bend at an impossible angle as if it had tried to wrap itself around Venelia's wrist. Without waiting a second more she backhands her attacker across the face, breaking his nose with her cuff.

Later on they will discover that the metal cuffs can also stop arrows but for now it is all they need to bring the slavers to their knees.

Before midday they have taken full control of the ship and stranded their former captors on a small island off the coast of Smyrna.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I literally have no idea where I am going with that story anymore \o/


	5. Saviors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Amazons are stranded on a foreign land. They are taken in by a woman and her people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand I'm back. Finally. I quit my job, moved to Paris, got an unlimited access pass to the Louvre Museum and finally got around to continuing this story.   
> This chapter is kind of a filler, fueled by days spent adoring Gal Gadot and watching tumblr video (you will know the one.)  
> Anyway if anyone is still reading this, enjoy.

For all their skills as well as living on an island, the Amazons are at best mediocre sailors. Why learn when you have the Gods magically getting you to and from your intended destination? More importantly they have no idea where and how to find Themyscira. Hidden from mortals' eyes, the Island might just as well have disappeared for the now powerless Amazons.

"Surely our sisters will send for us when we fail to come back," Penthesilea says on the fourth day of wandering at sea.

But time passes differently on the island and it could be years, even decades, for them before their sisters realize that they are taking longer than expected to come back.

Eventually they run out of food and water and they have no choice but to beach the boat on the first coast they spot, hoping they are far enough from Smyrna to avoid a welcoming party.

* * *

The land they washed upon is hot and dry. There is not a single hint of fresh water anywhere nearby and the burn of the metal bands around their wrist is almost as painful as their parched tongues. It all bears a terrible sense of déjà vu for Menalippe. Se keeps asking herself where she failed. Failed to see the anouncing sign of their doom. Failed to save her sisters. What good is a gift of prophecy if she can't prevent events such as this?

Swallowing the little saliva she has left to try and sooth her throat, she joins Antiope at the head of their group in a few quick steps.

The General has naturally taken the leading position while Hippolyta and Penthesilea close the march to support their weakest members. It is hard to believe that only a few days ago she was fighting off the effect of a sword wound.

"Where do you think we are?" Menalippe asks. She gets a shrug in answer. Themyscira exists on a different plane from men's world, it is neither here nor there and as a result the Amazons have always been exactly where they needed to be. Except this time.

But they didn't escape their captors to die in the desert.

"One more," Antiope says, leaving Menalippe behind to climb the rocky hill above them. "And after that we rest." she promises like she has for the past five or ten hills. Antiope never stops and she takes her soldiers with her, pushing them limit to uncover a strength they never knew they had. Several Amazons groan in displeasure at her words but they keep on trudging throught the burning sand anyway. They know their chances of survival are null if they don't.

Antiope reaches the top of the top just as Venelia eventually collapses against Artemis. Hippolyta opens her mouth to warn her sister of this, but she is cut off by her victorious cry.

"There! We did it!"

Menalippe joins her at the top of the hill and surely enough she can see the distinct shape of palm trees rising up what looks like an endless expanse of dark green shruberry spreading barely a few yards from them.

It is the firt sign in days that the Gods have not completely forsaken them.

It is so beautiful, Menalippe would think it an illusion were it not for the human figure riding up to them in on an unfamiliar steed.

* * *

The rider is a young woman wrapped in a dark shawl. Her long dark hair flow behind her as she pushes her steed faster towards the Amazons.

She dismounts as she reaches the top of the hill and falls to her knees with Antiope's hands in hers.

"You came," she exclaims. "I was sure you'd land off the coast of Samaria. And you did!" she says.

Before Antiope can answer or correct her, Hippolyta calls her name from down the hill, her voice full of urgency and distress both over Venelia's state and Antiope's safety. All eyes turn towards Hippolyta. Without missing a beat the stranger picks herself up to run to Venelia's side and hold the neck of her own waterskin to her mouth. Everyone watches in silence as she whistles for her camel to come kneel by the Amazon's side.

Hippolyta draws her dagger and holds it at the the woman's throat.

"Who are you? What do you want from us?" she asks.

The stranger ignores her and motions for Artemis to haul Venelia onto her animal's back.

Antiope raises one eyebrow in surprise at the stranger's guts. With Menalippe on her heels, she climbs down the hill to make her sister lower her weapon. Despite Hippolyta's wariness, she holds wrists with the stranger in a show of trust and let her lead the Amazons back to her village for water and food.

* * *

Words of their escape from the slavers have spread from Lycia over to the whole coast. There has been talks of an army of women coming to take over the land all the way down south to the village of Bana Migdall, the Women's tower. A fitting name as the Amazons will soon find out While many saw the Amazons' presence as a threat, the residents of Bana Migdhall saw them as saviors. For the past few day they had been sending prayers to their God and children out to scouts the desert in the hopes that the Amazons would find their way there.

Antiope listens to the woman's story as to an old tale she already know. For there's nothing new in it.

A small village built on the banks of a shallow river in the middle of a desert. A divided community: women in the homes and men in the fields. A band of raiders from the North and men too weak to stand up for the women they swore to protect. Slaughtered to the last one while the raiders pillaged and raped.

Really, nothing new.

The woman holds her shawl a little closer to herself as she speaks. There is no sadness in her eyes, only a rage most Amazons know all too well. She doesn't ask of Antiope and her warriors to defend them. She asks them to teach her to protect her daughter, to teach the women to defend themselves so that the next time the raiders come will be the last.

Every Amazon knows what Hippolyta is thinking. But it can't be the Conqueror all over again. Not twice in a row. The Gods can't be that cruel. Hopefully. They remain stubbornly silent in Menalippe's head and she has never felt so useless in her life.

The last thing the Amazons feel they are at the moment is the god-sent saviors the women of Bana Mighdall think they are but they agree. Antiope's Amazons will train them so that the next time the raiders come it will be their last.

Their own savior, the woman who found them is the desert is beautiful. Her name is Galit. It means ripple in her people's language but she might as well be a shockwave from the effect she has on the Amazons. She is tall, taller than Menalippe even. And everytime she smiles - and she does it a surprising lot despite everything she has gone through - her lips curl up a little at the edges. And her voice has that low raspy quality that feels like she has just gotten up from bed, so much so that even the most mundane sentence from her never fails to make an Amazon or two weak in the knees. "Not like that, no, don't grasp your staff so tightly," Antiope tells Galit as she moves closer to show her a better way to use her weapon. "Let it move freely, it has to become an extension of your arm, not a tool."

The woman corrects her grip and quickly disarms her sparring partner and here's no denying the look of pure adoration on Antiope's face as she looks up at her.

Menalippe would almost be jealous if she wasn't so completely in awe of the younger woman too.

As they settled in Bana Migdhall, the Amazons have gone back to the dynamic they had back on the island. Artemis scares the beginers with a shameless display of strength, Penthesilea raises their spirits with her enthusiasm and Philippus tries to keep everyone safe while Antiope finds more and more reckless ways to train with Menalippe's reluctant assistance. It is comfortable, familiar.

Hippolyta is the only one who refuses to participate in the training. No one blames her. They all understand that she is mourning so much more than the loss of a lover. All silently agree to give her time and space.

Except Galit's daughter.

Ava has already seen five winters, she is as fair as her mother is dark and fairer than anyone else in her land. There is no doubt what kind of man the child's "father" might have been. But Galit's love for her is so pure and absolute that no one ever questions it.

She likes sitting on her mothers's back when Antiope takes here through a push up routine, and she likes nestling herself between Penthesilea's crossed leg when she does pull-up from a tree. But what she loves most is watching Hippolyta train with a sword and shield, fighting off imaginary ennemies as she tries to calm her mind.

Despite all her initial effort to scare the her away, Ava takes a shine to the queen and rarely leaves her side.

Hippolyta looks at her with a wistfull warmth no one has ever seen on her face before.

Antiope looks at them with the sad nostalgia of someone who knows they missed their chance a long time ago.

* * *

"It's been a while since I got such a talented student." Antiope says as she watches Galit show what she has learned this day to the younger girls of the village. Menalippe agrees. Her body, though on the thin side, adapted quickly to Antiope's training, like it was made to fight. Like her entire person had been waiting all her life for it.

"She's gonna be a fantastic addition to our army." Antiope adds with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

Menalippe can't help but frown. She plays with the metal band around her wrist. It helps her think. After a few days and without a proper forge the Amazons have given up on trying to get them off.

"But, she can't." She answers after a little hesitation. "She can't come back with us. She is mortal."

Antiope snorts in answer. "Do you actually believe we're ever gonna make it back to Themyscira still?"

Menalippe is at loss for words. From the moment Galit found them on the hill, no, from the moment Antiope woke up on the boat and beat up their captors, she has always believed that it was only a matter of time before they made it back to Themyscira. But it has been a couple of months now and maybe Antiope has a point.


End file.
